Paul Marcarelli (born May 24, 1970) is an American actor, who is currently the spokesperson for T-Mobile. He is best known for being the ubiquitous "Test Man" character in

commercials A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

("Can you hear me now?") for Verizon Wireless from 2002 to 2011. He appeared in all of his Verizon commercials wearing a gray Verizon jacket and his own horn-rimmed glasses.

Early life and education

Marcarelli is a native of North Haven, Connecticut, and graduated from

North Haven High School North Haven High School is a public high school located at 221 Elm Street in North Haven, Connecticut. It has an enrollment of approximately 1,300 students in grades 9 through 12. Notable alumni *Dan Fegan, NBA agent *Paul Householder, MLB playe ...

. Marcarelli then received his bachelor's degree in English from

Fairfield University Fairfield University is a private Jesuit university in Fairfield, Connecticut. It was founded by the Jesuits in 1942. In 2017, the university had about 4,100 full-time undergraduate students and 1,100 graduate students, including full-time ...

in 1992, having been a member of Theatre Fairfield, the resident production company.

Acting career

A founding member of New York's Mobius Group Productions in 1998, Marcarelli produced and performed in works by Eric Bogosian,

Warren Leight Warren Donald Leight (; born January 17, 1957) is an American playwright, screenwriter, film director and television producer. He is best known for his work on ''Law & Order: Criminal Intent'' and '' Lights Out'' and as the showrunner for ''In ...

, and Richard Nelson. Mobius's production of '' The Adding Machine'', in which he played the lead role, garnered the award for excellence in overall production from the New York International Fringe Festival in 2001; and his 2005 production, ''Bridezilla Strikes Back!'' starring Cynthia Silver, which '' The New York Times'' called "irresistible," won the Fringe's overall excellence award for outstanding solo show. Marcarelli is also a founding member of the Table Ten Films production company. He co-wrote the storyline for the 2011 independent film '' The Green'', for which he also wrote the screenplay. Marcarelli wrote and produced the feature film ''Clutter'', starring Carol Kane and Natasha Lyonne. The film won Best Film at the

Harlem International Film Festival The Harlem International Film Festival (Hi) is an annual five-day film festival in Harlem, New York. The first festival took place in 2005. Michael Franti's ''I Know I'm Not Alone'' was named Best International Documentary at the festival that ye ...

and was nominated for the

New American Cinema Award The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees. The SIFF runs for more th ...

in 2013.

Advertising career

In 2002 Marcarelli started appearing as the "Test Man" character in Verizon Wireless commercials, for which '' Entertainment Weekly'' named him one of the most intriguing people of 2002. In April 2011 Marcarelli was informed by email that Verizon was moving in a new direction with its advertising campaign. He remained under contract but would no longer play "Test Man". Marcarelli was glad that he was able to move on from it. Prior to Verizon, Marcarelli had already appeared in numerous commercials for companies including Old Navy,

Merrill Lynch Merrill (officially Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated), previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investment bank ...

, Dasani, T-Mobile and Heineken. He also performed in industrial and promotional films, and as a voiceover artist for Comedy Central, United Airlines and Aetna Insurance, among others. Since 2016 Marcarelli has been working as a

Sprint Sprint may refer to: Aerospace *Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design *Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile Automotive and motorcycle *Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989 *Chevrolet Sprint, ...

(later merged with T-Mobile) spokesman and often refers to his switch from Verizon to Sprint in the commercials in which he appears.

Personal life

He is married to his husband Ryan Brown, who appeared with Paul in a Sprint ad.

References

External links

*
Clutter websiteTable Ten Films website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marcarelli, Paul American male film actors American male voice actors American male screenwriters Fairfield University alumni American gay actors Living people Male actors from New York (state) Verizon Communications people 1970 births Spokespersons Sprint Corporation people 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors People from North Haven, Connecticut Screenwriters from Connecticut